Labour’s pledges to pensioners

Labour will stand up for older people and has made five key pledges to ensure older people have the security and dignity they deserve:

Secure pensioner incomes with the Triple-Lock on state pensions.

Protect the Winter Fuel Allowance and free bus passes for pensioners.

An extra £45 billion for the NHS and social care.

No rise in the state pension age beyond 66.

Justice for women born in the 1950s hit by five year rise in pension age.

Theresa May’s government has failed older people; their cuts to social care have resulted in over one million older people not getting the care they need. Labour will spend an extra £45 billion on the NHS and social care over five years.

The Conservative Party manifesto has promised three major new burdens to be placed on older people:

Scrapping the ‘triple lock’ on state pensions so that pensioner incomes are no longer protected.

Means testing Winter Fuel Payments to remove support to heat the homes of ten million pensioners.

Forcing those who need social care to pay for it with their homes.

Pensioners would be at least £330 worse off under the Tories’ new Double Lock had it been in place between 2013/14 and 2017/18, compared with the basic state pension being uprated by the Triple Lock. Under Theresa May’s plan, ten million people – five out of six pensioners – are set to lose their Winter Fuel Payments, worth up to £300.

Theresa May and the Conservatives won’t stand up for pensioners, their only concern is their billionaire friends. Labour is proud to stand up for the many, not the few.